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Family reunification in El Paso: Immigrant mom joyfully reunited with 4-year-old son

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Maria holds her 4-year-old son Franco after he arrived at the El Paso International Airport Thursday night. The two had been separated for over 6 weeks after being caught entering the country illegally through Santa Teresa, New Mexico. Maria was held in an El Paso area detention facility while Franco was in New York City, the two are from Guatemala and plan to travel to Alabama to stay with relatives. RUBEN R. RAMIREZ/EL PASO TIMES

Maria holds her 4-year-old son, Franco, after he arrived at the El Paso International Airport Thursday night. The two had been separated for over six weeks after being caught entering the country illegally through Santa Teresa, New Mexico. Maria was held in an El Paso area detention facility while Franco was in New York City. The two are from Guatemala and plan to travel to Alabama to stay with relatives. RUBEN R. RAMIREZ/EL PASO TIMES

Maria holds her 4-year-old son Franco after he arrived at the El Paso International Airport Thursday night. The two had been separated for over 6 weeks after being caught entering the country illegally through Santa Teresa, New Mexico. Maria was held in an El Paso area detention facility while Franco was in New York City, the two are from Guatemala and plan to travel to Alabama to stay with relatives. RUBEN R. RAMIREZ/EL PASO TIMES

Maria holds her 4-year-old son Franco after he arrived at the El Paso International Airport Thursday night. The two had been separated for over 6 weeks after being caught entering the country illegally through Santa Teresa, New Mexico. Maria was held in an El Paso area detention facility while Franco was in New York City, the two are from Guatemala and plan to travel to Alabama to stay with relatives. RUBEN R. RAMIREZ/EL PASO TIMES

Maria holds her 4-year-old son Franco after he arrived at the El Paso International Airport Thursday night. The two had been separated for over 6 weeks after being caught entering the country illegally through Santa Teresa, New Mexico. Maria was held in an El Paso area detention facility while Franco was in New York City, the two are from Guatemala and plan to travel to Alabama to stay with relatives. RUBEN R. RAMIREZ/EL PASO TIMES

Maria holds her 4-year-old son, Franco, after he arrived at the El Paso International Airport on July 26. The two had been separated for over six weeks after being caught entering the country illegally through Santa Teresa, N.M. Maria was held in an El Paso area detention facility while Franco was in New York City. The two are from Guatemala and plan to travel to Alabama to stay with relatives. RUBEN R. RAMIREZ/EL PASO TIMES

Maria holds her 4-year-old son Franco after he arrived at the El Paso International Airport Thursday night. The two had been separated for over 6 weeks after being caught entering the country illegally through Santa Teresa, New Mexico. Maria was held in an El Paso area detention facility while Franco was in New York City, the two are from Guatemala and plan to travel to Alabama to stay with relatives. RUBEN R. RAMIREZ/EL PASO TIMES

Ruben Garcia, Director of the Annunciation House in El Paso, Texas talks to Maria and points to where her son will be coming down the escalator as they both waited the arrival of her 4-year-old son Franco Thursday night at the El Paso International Airport. Franco was brought El Paso to be reunited with his mother after being separated for six weeks after both were caught entering the United States illegally through Santa Teresa, New Mexico. Both are from Guatemala. RUBEN R. RAMIREZ/EL PASO TIMES

Maria patiently waits for her 4-year-old son Franco waiting for him to arrive at the El Paso International Airport Thursday night. The two had been separated for over 6 weeks after being caught entering the country illegally through Santa Teresa, New Mexico. Maria was held in an El Paso area detention facility while Franco was in New York City, the two are from Guatemala and plan to travel to Alabama to stay with relatives. RUBEN R. RAMIREZ/EL PASO TIMES

Ruben Garcia, director of the Annunciation House in El Paso, talks to Maria as they awaited the arrival of her 4-year-old son, Franco, Thursday night at the El Paso International Airport. Franco was brought to El Paso to be reunited with his mother after being separated for six weeks. They were caught entering the United States at Santa Teresa, New Mexico. RUBEN R. RAMIREZ/EL PASO TIMES

Maria holds her 4-year-old son Franco after he arrived at the El Paso International Airport Thursday night. The two had been separated for over 6 weeks after being caught entering the country illegally through Santa Teresa, New Mexico. Maria was held in an El Paso area detention facility while Franco was in New York City, the two are from Guatemala and plan to travel to Alabama to stay with relatives. RUBEN R. RAMIREZ/EL PASO TIMES

Maria holds her 4-year-old son Franco after he arrived at the El Paso International Airport Thursday night. The two had been separated for over 6 weeks after being caught entering the country illegally through Santa Teresa, New Mexico. Maria was held in an El Paso area detention facility while Franco was in New York City, the two are from Guatemala and plan to travel to Alabama to stay with relatives. RUBEN R. RAMIREZ/EL PASO TIMES

Maria holds her 4-year-old son Franco after he arrived at the El Paso International Airport Thursday night. The two had been separated for over 6 weeks after being caught entering the country illegally through Santa Teresa, New Mexico. Maria was held in an El Paso area detention facility while Franco was in New York City, the two are from Guatemala and plan to travel to Alabama to stay with relatives. RUBEN R. RAMIREZ/EL PASO TIMES

Maria holds her 4-year-old son Franco after he arrived at the El Paso International Airport Thursday night. The two had been separated for over 6 weeks after being caught entering the country illegally through Santa Teresa, New Mexico. Maria was held in an El Paso area detention facility while Franco was in New York City, the two are from Guatemala and plan to travel to Alabama to stay with relatives. RUBEN R. RAMIREZ/EL PASO TIMES

Maria holds her 4-year-old son, Franco, after he arrived at the El Paso International Airport on Thursday night. The two had been separated for six weeks after being caught entering the country at Santa Teresa, New Mexico. Maria was held in an El Paso area detention facility while Franco was in New York City. The two are from Guatemala and plan to travel to Alabama to stay with relatives. RUBEN R. RAMIREZ / EL PASO TIMES

Maria holds her 4-year-old son Franco after he arrived at the El Paso International Airport Thursday night. The two had been separated for over 6 weeks after being caught entering the country illegally through Santa Teresa, New Mexico. Maria was held in an El Paso area detention facility while Franco was in New York City, the two are from Guatemala and plan to travel to Alabama to stay with relatives. RUBEN R. RAMIREZ/EL PASO TIMES

Maria holds her 4-year-old son Franco after he arrived at the El Paso International Airport Thursday night. The two had been separated for over 6 weeks after being caught entering the country illegally through Santa Teresa, New Mexico. Maria was held in an El Paso area detention facility while Franco was in New York City, the two are from Guatemala and plan to travel to Alabama to stay with relatives. RUBEN R. RAMIREZ/EL PASO TIMES

Maria holds her 4-year-old son Franco after he arrived at the El Paso International Airport Thursday night. The two had been separated for over 6 weeks after being caught entering the country illegally through Santa Teresa, New Mexico. Maria was held in an El Paso area detention facility while Franco was in New York City, the two are from Guatemala and plan to travel to Alabama to stay with relatives. RUBEN R. RAMIREZ/EL PASO TIMES

Maria holds her 4-year-old son Franco after he arrived at the El Paso International Airport Thursday night. The two had been separated for over 6 weeks after being caught entering the country illegally through Santa Teresa, New Mexico. Maria was held in an El Paso area detention facility while Franco was in New York City, the two are from Guatemala and plan to travel to Alabama to stay with relatives. RUBEN R. RAMIREZ/EL PASO TIMES

Maria holds her 4-year-old son Franco after he arrived at the El Paso International Airport Thursday night. The two had been separated for over 6 weeks after being caught entering the country illegally through Santa Teresa, New Mexico. Maria was held in an El Paso area detention facility while Franco was in New York City, the two are from Guatemala and plan to travel to Alabama to stay with relatives. RUBEN R. RAMIREZ/EL PASO TIMES

Maria holds her 4-year-old son Franco after he arrived at the El Paso International Airport Thursday night. The two had been separated for over 6 weeks after being caught entering the country illegally through Santa Teresa, New Mexico. Maria was held in an El Paso area detention facility while Franco was in New York City, the two are from Guatemala and plan to travel to Alabama to stay with relatives. RUBEN R. RAMIREZ/EL PASO TIMES

Maria holds her 4-year-old son Franco after he arrived at the El Paso International Airport Thursday night. The two had been separated for over 6 weeks after being caught entering the country illegally through Santa Teresa, New Mexico. Maria was held in an El Paso area detention facility while Franco was in New York City, the two are from Guatemala and plan to travel to Alabama to stay with relatives. RUBEN R. RAMIREZ/EL PASO TIMES

Maria holds her 4-year-old son, Franco, after he arrived at the El Paso International Airport on Thursday night. The two had been separated for six weeks after being caught entering the country at Santa Teresa, New Mexico. Maria was held in an El Paso area detention facility while Franco was in New York City. The two are from Guatemala and plan to travel to Alabama to stay with relatives.(Photo: RUBEN R. RAMIREZ / EL PASO TIMES)Buy Photo

Franco looked around for a bit, saw his mother and quickly ran into her arms on Thursday night at the El Paso International Airport.

The 4-year-old boy was reunited with his mom, Maria, after being apart six weeks. They were separated by U.S. immigration authorities at the border.

"Papi, lindo," Maria tenderly told her only son, her fingers brushing his cheeks as he sat on her lap and hugged her.

The 20-year-old mother and her boy are undocumented immigrants who left their home in Guatemala due to violence and poverty. They asked that their last name not be published.

While many immigrant families have been reunited, about 150 parents who were separated from their children while trying to cross the border still are detained in the El Paso area despite a court-ordered deadline for the federal government to reunify the families that expired Thursday.

“Even though the government is saying that they reunited all eligible families, all eligible families does not mean all families,” said Taylor Levy, the legal coordinator for Annunciation House, an organization that is helping reunited immigrant families. “There are still many more parents who have been separated from their minor children who remain detained in the El Paso area.”

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Franco, 4, is all smiles Friday at Annunciation House after a good night’s sleep after being reunited with his mother, Maria, on Thursday night. Both Guatemalan citizens were apprehended by the Border Patrol over six weeks ago as they attempted to cross into the United States through Santa Teresa, N.M.(Photo: RUBEN R. RAMIREZ/EL PASO TIMES)

As of Thursday evening, the Office of Refugee Resettlement had discharged 1,820 immigrant children, of which 1,442 were reunited with parents who were in ICE custody and 378 who were discharged “for other appropriate circumstances,” meaning they were either released to their parents who were already out of detention, were sent to other sponsors, already had been released earlier in the process or no longer were younger than 18 years of age. The office is a program within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

Of the reunified families, 223 are being held together in custody at family detention centers in Texas.

Authorities said 711 children were not eligible for reunification or were discharged because parents waived their rights, had been deported or had a criminal record.

Approximately 150 immigrant parents who were separated from their children are currently detained in El Paso, Sierra Blanca, Texas, and Otero County, N.M., Levy said.

However, Levy said it’s difficult to provide an exact number of parents who remain detained in the El Paso area because families are moved around “so quickly” between the various detention sites.

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Maria, 20, and her 4-year-old son, Franco, hold each other Friday at Annunciation House. They were reunited Thursday night after being separated for six weeks. Franco cried as his mother shared her feelings about not having her son. Maria and two other families shared their stories about being separated, while another waited for news of when she would be reunited with her younger brother.(Photo: RUBEN R. RAMIREZ/EL PASO TIMES)

Annunciation House helps immigrants in El Paso

Maria and Franco are being helped by Annunciation House, an El Paso shelter that is one of four nationwide that are receiving reunited immigrant families being released from detention facilities.

Since July 17, Annunciation House had received 323 reunited families, said Shalini Thomas, an attorney assisting immigrant families at the shelter.

Annunciation House partners with the Immigration Justice Campaign from the American Immigration Council to help immigrant parents detained in the El Paso area and Southern New Mexico.

After arriving at the U.S. border at Santa Teresa, N.M., six weeks ago, Maria was sent to an immigration detention center in the El Paso area.

Her young son was sent 2,000 miles away to an Office of Refugee Resettlement shelter for immigrant children in New York, she said.

Anxiety, nervousness before reunion

While waiting for Franco to arrive in El Paso on Thursday night, Maria said she was anxious and nervous about how her son would react.

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Maria holds her 4-year-old son, Franco, after he arrived at the El Paso International Airport Thursday night. The two had been separated for over six weeks after being caught entering the country illegally through Santa Teresa, New Mexico. Maria was held in an El Paso area detention facility while Franco was in New York City. The two are from Guatemala and plan to travel to Alabama to stay with relatives.(Photo: RUBEN R. RAMIREZ/EL PASO TIMES)

Franco would be arriving at the El Paso airport from New York minutes after 10 p.m. with a social worker chaperone on a flight from Chicago.

Ruben Garcia, director of Annunciation House, explained that immigrant children have had different reactions to seeing their parents after traumatic separations.

Maria was told to sit calmly and to wait to see what her son would do.

The young boy, wearing a red, white and blue New York Giants windbreaker, and his chaperone came down an escalator into the airport lobby for arriving passengers.

They turned to one side and then to the other. Then Franco saw his mom, let go of the chaperone's hand and ran into his mother's arms. They hugged.

"I am happy," Maria said, hugging her son close, later adding that he was a little scared, surrounded by clicking photographers, television cameras and reporters.

"Even if he is well cared for, I can't live like this without my son," she said.

"But now I am happy. I am happy because my son is with me," she said holding her boy, sitting in the airport arrival area.

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Martina, a 32-year-old Guatemalan woman, spent more than two months in jail until she was released to Annunciation House on June 28. Martina has not been able to see her 13-year-old brother, Ervin, who is housed at a shelter in Arizona, because she is not his biological mother. She last saw her brother on April 18 when they turned themselves in to the U.S. Border Patrol near a port of entry in El Paso. Now she is staying at Annunciation House until the final word on when they will be reunited.(Photo: RUBEN R. RAMIREZ/EL PASO TIMES)

US policy keeps siblings separated

Martina from Guatemala last saw her 13-year-old brother, Ervin, on April 18 when they turned themselves over to the U.S. Border Patrol near a port of entry in El Paso.

The 32-year-old woman spent more than two months in jail until she was released to Annunciation House on June 28.

On Friday, Martina said she has not been able to see her brother, who is housed at a shelter in Arizona, because she is not his biological mother.

Martina said that while she might not be his biological mother, she has raised Ervin since he was 4 years old.

“I’m not leaving without him because he came with me and I don't want to leave this country without him," she said.

Martina said when she decided to embark on the treacherous trip to the United States, Ervin did not want to stay in Guatemala.

"He wanted to come with me," she said.

While Martina was in detention, the Office of Refugee Resettlement reached out to their cousin in the United States, asking if he wanted to take in Ervin. Officials also contacted Martina’s mother in Guatemala to request authorization to allow their cousin to receive him.

When Martina was released from jail, their mother asked for Ervin to be reunited with Martina.

Martina said a social worker told her that she wasn’t going to be reunited with her brother because she is living at a shelter and she does not have a job.

Levy said it will be unlawful for Martina to work since she doesn't have a work permit.

Martina said her brother is desperate and wants to be with her. She said she had not been to speak with him until she arrived at Annunciation House.

A network of temporary church shelters in El Paso and Las Cruces is housing the immigrants until they move on to be with their sponsors in various parts of the country. The immigrants still face immigration court proceedings.

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Ruben Garcia, director of the Annunciation House in El Paso, talks to Maria as they awaited the arrival of her 4-year-old son, Franco, Thursday night at the El Paso International Airport. Franco was brought to El Paso to be reunited with his mother after being separated for six weeks. They were caught entering the United States at Santa Teresa, New Mexico.(Photo: RUBEN R. RAMIREZ/EL PASO TIMES)

Last month, a federal judge set July 12 as the deadline for the Trump administration to reunite immigrant children younger than 5 with their parents. The judge had set Thursday as the deadline to reunify immigrant children 5 and older.

The separations occurred during a Trump administration's zero tolerance policy to prosecute all illegal border crossings.

Immigrant children were shipped to shelters while their parents were sent to detention facilities after asking for political asylum or being arrested after illegally crossing the border.